Landscapes of the “Coast of Death”: dolmen topographies of NW Iberia

Higginbottom, Gail; González-García, A. César; Pazos, Miguel Carrero; Vilas-Estévez, Benito; López-López, Víctor

doi:10.1080/20548923.2022.2078029

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This situation is also true for the Crescent Moons. Thus, the deliberate landscape choices by dolmen creators that we found in 2022 are further supported (Higginbottom et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

“…Significantly, we have evidence for the deliberate landscape choices of the dolmen builders of NW parts of Galicia in Barbanza and Costa Morte. In the latter, there are systematically lower altitudes for the eastern horizons in comparison to the western, which is the opposite of the random sites found in Costa da Morte (Higginbottom et al 2022). Also, the dolmen horizons are statistically significantly lower in the east and the west than the random sites and are located at higher-than-average elevations in their local areas (Higginbottom et al 2022).…”

Section: Background On Galician Dolmensmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…In the latter, there are systematically lower altitudes for the eastern horizons in comparison to the western, which is the opposite of the random sites found in Costa da Morte (Higginbottom et al 2022). Also, the dolmen horizons are statistically significantly lower in the east and the west than the random sites and are located at higher-than-average elevations in their local areas (Higginbottom et al 2022). These average profiles contained ridges or higher altitudes in the east and/or west.…”

Section: Background On Galician Dolmensmentioning

confidence: 76%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Not All Dolmens Are Oriented to the Sun: Or Are They? Use of Astronomical Models Help Overturn Dominant Cultural-astronomy Hypotheses in Iberia

Higginbottom,

González-García",

Criado-Boado

2024

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This situation is also true for the Crescent Moons. Thus, the deliberate landscape choices by dolmen creators that we found in 2022 are further supported (Higginbottom et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Background On Galician Dolmensmentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Background On Galician Dolmensmentioning

confidence: 76%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Not All Dolmens Are Oriented to the Sun: Or Are They? Use of Astronomical Models Help Overturn Dominant Cultural-astronomy Hypotheses in Iberia

Higginbottom,

González-García",

Criado-Boado

2024

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…We have already begun the first step of our own research into the possible combined relationships of landscapes, architecture (orientation of monument axes) and celestial phenomena with a study of the topographic qualities of the landscapes surrounding the known dolmens in Costa da Morte, independent of the orientations of the monuments. 15 Specifically, we performed quantitative analyses to confirm whether or not the visible horizons surrounding the monuments had any shared characteristics and whether or not they appeared unique compared to those horizons viewed in the same region from random locations. Horizon characteristics were defined by the 'horizon profile', which is defined by its direction, altitude and distance, measured every 0.01° along the horizon from the viewing position of the monument.…”

Section: Previous Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape, orientation and celestial phenomena on the ‘Coast of Death’ of NW Iberia

Higginbottom

González–García

Vilas-Estévez

et al. 2023

Journal for the History of Astronomy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper investigates the land- and sky-scapes surrounding the dolmens of Costa da Morte (Coast of Death), Galicia. Having uncovered previously that the location of megalithic monuments in this coherent area of the south-eastern side of the European Atlantic Façade connects to complex topographical features, we now show how this chosen topography connects to astronomical phenomena. We will see how the detailed shape of the horizon coincides with specific risings and settings of the Sun and Moon, providing further support for the notion that the creators of these monuments selectively drew upon a variety of features found in their natural world.

show abstract

Not all dolmens are oriented to the Sun. Or are they? Use of astronomical models help overturn dominant cultural-astronomy hypotheses in Iberia

Higginbottom,

García,

Boado

2024

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper challenges the notion that each Neolithic dolmen targets either a single astronomical body at a specific time of year or perhaps two, one in each direction of the monument alignment. By applying Silva and Pimenta’s 2012 statistical models of lunar cycles connected to the Sun through time to our Galician orientation data, we produced more astronomically correct and complete information about the most likely targets of these Galician dolmens. Silva and Pimenta’s work included chronological distributions of particular events for the solar year related to latitude, allowing us to consider astronomical bodies correlated with the time of year and place. Ultimately, we now more fully understand the integrated complexity of the previously simplified perception of dolmens concerning their connection to astronomical phenomena. Principally, it now seems that not only do multiple working targets more readily fit the data, but so, too, do several times throughout the year. Further, dolmen axes are oriented in both directions. These findings led us to conclude that the Neolithic people chose to highlight particular seasonal ranges through the orientations of their tombs. So the Sun, whilst remaining relevant to dolmen architectural design, is no longer considered a solitary target. This paper also explains why.

show abstract

Landscapes of the “Coast of Death”: dolmen topographies of NW Iberia

Cited by 3 publications

References 33 publications

Not All Dolmens Are Oriented to the Sun: Or Are They? Use of Astronomical Models Help Overturn Dominant Cultural-astronomy Hypotheses in Iberia

Not All Dolmens Are Oriented to the Sun: Or Are They? Use of Astronomical Models Help Overturn Dominant Cultural-astronomy Hypotheses in Iberia

Landscape, orientation and celestial phenomena on the ‘Coast of Death’ of NW Iberia

Not all dolmens are oriented to the Sun. Or are they? Use of astronomical models help overturn dominant cultural-astronomy hypotheses in Iberia

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About